"Gullah Geechee Goldilocks" Cover Mock-up
by TeMika Grooms
This project is a cover mock-up and illustrations for "Gullah Geechee Goldilocks", a retelling of the old fable written and illustrated by TeMika Grooms.
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My father's side is from a town not far from the Congaree Swamp land just outside of Columbia, SC. Born before or around 1900, my grandfather was half-Indian with straight hair and light eyes and my grandmother was dark as night....they always said she was Geechee. I don't know that to be true. But I do know that many African-Americans living in the south are influenced by, either through direct family lineage or through common cultural experiences, to the coastal areas of the southern United States.
I didn't know much about them growing up as a military brat disconnected from family in the south. But when we moved back to the Georgia, I planted my own roots and have slowly started to retrace the ones who came before me.
My father's history is tricky...it's been so hard for me to find records beyond my grandparents. Indian heritage...Sharecroppers.... Shotty record keeping in the South. I have one uncle left who has been kind and patient enough with me to let me ask the same questions over and over so I can commit them to memory to pass them on.
And for the memories I can't hold in my mind? Well for those I will research, I will dig out of younger family members and I will creatively tell the stories of those who "History" was not recorded.
I didn't know much about them growing up as a military brat disconnected from family in the south. But when we moved back to the Georgia, I planted my own roots and have slowly started to retrace the ones who came before me.
My father's history is tricky...it's been so hard for me to find records beyond my grandparents. Indian heritage...Sharecroppers.... Shotty record keeping in the South. I have one uncle left who has been kind and patient enough with me to let me ask the same questions over and over so I can commit them to memory to pass them on.
And for the memories I can't hold in my mind? Well for those I will research, I will dig out of younger family members and I will creatively tell the stories of those who "History" was not recorded.
In recognizing the culture and influences of the Gullah Geechee Nation from Jacksonville, North Carolina to Jacksonville, Florida - This is my mock up cover of the old Goldilocks Tale.
- TeMika Grooms
